County Democrats yield to inevitable

Party is anything but major in Republican-dominated 16th District

Thursday, October 30, 2003

BY RICK HEPP
Star-Ledger Staff

A campaign finance disclosure form filed recently by Democratic Assembly candidate Robert Mack judiciously summed up the chances of challengers facing the 16th District Republican incumbents.

In large letters scribbled across the entire page, the social science teacher at Bridgewater-Raritan High School wrote: "No committee. No contributions. No expenditures."

Mack, 62, has never even campaigned against Republican incumbents Christopher "Kip" Bateman and Peter J. Biondi.

"I'm really not a candidate," Mack said. "They were looking around for somebody who was interested in running and they used my name in the interim (as a place- holder on the ballot.) That was going to be the deal and it never came to pass."

He held out longer in the race than his two Democratic compatriots in the 16th District, which includes most of Somerset County and Mendham Borough in Morris County.

Assembly candidate Amadeo D'Adamo Jr. dropped his bid over the summer and Senate candidate Bill O'Brien withdrew in September from his race against incumbent Republican Sen. Walter J. Kavanaugh.

"In Somerset County, it's almost a losing proposition" to run as a Democrat, Mack said. "It's so dominated by the Republican Party that Democrats don't stand a chance."

Kavanaugh, who replaced retiring Sen. Jack Ewing in 1998 after a 21-year stint in the Assembly, will be the only Senate choice for voters on the Nov. 4 ballot. Kavanaugh, 70, co-chairs the committee on State Government.

Like his running mates, the Somerville politician wants to consolidate school districts to reduce education costs -- a critical issue in Somerset -- and cap medical malpractice jury awards for pain and suffering. He also supports funding the Garden State Land Preservation Trust as a way to preserve open space.

While Mack has declared himself a noncandidate, Bateman and Biondi still face another challenger on the campaign trial: Green Party candidate Jane Hunter of Bound Brook.

Bateman, 46, a municipal prosecutor in Bridgewater, Somerville, Pepack Gladstone and Rocky Hills, was first elected to the Assembly in 1994 and is a former Somerset freeholder and Branchburg mayor.

Among the issues Bateman supports is an increase of New Jersey's gasoline tax, as long as the revenue is constitutionally dedicated to the transportation trust fund, which pays for repairs and improvements to the state's roadway infrastructure. The trust fund, which is rapidly depleting and must be reauthorized by June, has historically been financed by a gasoline tax.

"Nobody likes to pay more taxes, but it's basically a user fee and there's a correlation between the tax and the problem," Bateman said. "We've got to make sure we adequately fund our transportation infrastructure."

Biondi, 61, a former Somerset freeholder and Hillsborough mayor, was elected to the Assembly in 1998 to replace Kavanaugh.

He wants to require a soil and water test on land before it is purchased to insure that the groundwater is potable and the soil absorbs rainwater properly. If not, Biondi said, developers shouldn't be allowed to build on it.

Biondi also wants to purchase only residentially zoned land as open space. "You don't want to acquire corporate or industrial in a community because they need the ratables," he said.

Hunter, 56, an occupation management consultant in the telecommunications industry, is the chairwoman of the state Green Party, which organized in 1997.

Hunter would like to use public money to finance a state-wide campaign as a way to eliminate the influence of special interests on the election. She would also raise taxes on the highest-earning income bracket and use money from the general revenue fund instead of property taxes to pay for education.

"I do believe that people who can afford to pay more will benefit from the quality education of the next generation and people who don't understand that are very narrow and shortsighted," Hunter said.

Rick Hepp works in the Somerset County bureau. He can be reached at rhepp@starledger.com or (908) 429-9925.